MESA VERDE ART PARK
HARWOOD ART CENTER APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM
ABQ , NM 2019-24
From 2019-24 Helen served as Lead Artist, and Will a Mentoring Artists, for Harwood Art Center's Public Art Apprenticeship program. The program hired young artists to work with Lead and Mentoring artists to co-create community driven public artworks. Harwood made a long term commitment to create large scale public works for Mesa Verde Park in Albuquerque's International District. We focused on the parks Eastern border with the goal of increasing greenery, lighting, and making the area more inviting for neighbors. Our artworks are created with materials like steel, cement, ceramic sculpture and tile, lighting, and local flora. Our team incorporates community drawings, poems, and stories into these living monuments to the people and ecosystems of Mesa Verde Park.
UNIDOS 2019 (E)
Unidos is an abstracted butterfly form with a canopy of steel butterflies that were cut, painted and installed by apprentices. Unidos honors the communities that form through migration: both the migratory convening of butterflies and the many journeys that shape the International District’s diverse communities.
CAMBIO 2021 (B)
Cambio is a meditation on change, featuring a mosaic bench inspired by the Sandia Mountains. A sculpted steel trellis frames the bench with growing honeysuckle designed to provide respite from the sun. Cambio honors insect pollinators with its trellis “wings,” and the cocoon-like environment created within the sculpture.
CAMINO 2022 (C)
Camino honors the life journeys of local community members. It features 3 steel hexagonal sculptures embellished with quotes from interviews with community members. The beacons are framed with a hexagonal concrete bench decorated in handmade ceramic tile that was made in partnership with Mesa Verde Community Center youth and adults enrolled in the Bernalillo County CARE Campus Supportive After Care Program.
PORTAL 2023 (A)
Portal is a sculptural arch designed to mark the transitions, losses, gains, and healing we pursue in community. Our interdependence, to both each other and our ecosystems, is examined through the symbols of the Yucca and Yucca Moth, and the Agave and the Mexican Long-Tongued Bat, which are examples of regional symbiotic relationships
TERRA 2024 (D)
Terra is a garden and mosaic paver pathway that invites park visitors to imagine a shared future Earth in which life, health, and interconnection are possible. While flora is included and referenced in each of our sculptures, it is the focus of Terra. In our passive rainwater garden, each basin represents a function and symbolism of the plants it houses; Protection, Prairie, Prayer, and Pollinator. The paver pathway contains mosaics of real and imagined plants, with poetic responses to the prompt: How will the future change our relationship with the land?
ARTISTS: Helen Atkins was one of 4 Lead Artists for this program, including Ryan Henel, Jane Gordon, and Jen DePaolo. Will Geusz was a Mentoring Artist providing fabrication and installation support. The program hired over 50 Apprentice Artists ages 15-24.
ORGANIZERS: Harwood Art Center